Refrigerator ventilator system



y 1949. L. :M. MITCHELL 2,471,971

REFRIGERATOR VENTILATCR SYSTEM Filed NOV. 23, 1944 J8 Z5 29 fi'll'lll 31 T T 3 \\w x I I 38 33 36 10 I 2/ A INVENTOR.

LEWIS M- MITCHELL ATTORNEY.

Patented May 31, 1949 UNITED STATES ATENT OFFICE Mitchell,

administrator of said Lewis M.

Mitchell, deceased, assignor of 46.66% to Wilbur A. E. Mitchell, Greeley, Colo., 26.67% to Paul M. Mitchell, Chicago, Ill., and 26.67% to Gerald L. J, Mitchell, Glen Ellyn, Ill.

Application November 23, 1944, Serial No. 564,882

7 Claims. 1

This invention relates to the problem in re:- frigeration of ventilation of the refrigerator unit, whether the unit be a box, cabinet, compartment or room. Food stored in conventional units becomes odorous and the air therein stale, resulting in other foods becoming tainted with unnatural flavors. Furthermore, mechanical units have been found to operate better if the air in the unit is fresh and not stagnant with food and other humid saturation causes from lack of ventilation. My invention relates also to food storage units, generally.

One of the objects. of my invention is to provide a mechanical ventilating system which will operate to ventilate the unit automatically upon use of the refrigerator unit- I provide ventilating means operable to utilize the fresh air, which enters the refrigerator unit upon use of the door to the unit, to leave the unit after the door is closed and thereby ventilate the unit.

A further object is to provide a ventilating" system operable upon and after the door to the refrigerator unit has been used; and also, I provide means for predetermining the interval of time during which my ventilating system operates after the door to the unit has been closed, according to the need arising from the foods being stored in the unit.

Other and further my invention will be discernible to those skflled in the art, and I am not limiting myself by the specific disclosure in this specification, but only by the spirit and scope of the specification in its entirety including the appended claims. For instance, I have illustrated my invention herein by way of disclosure of its use in connection with a household refrigerator, but, obviously, it is applicable as well to commercial refrigerators and refrigerator storage units, rooms, cabinets and counters.

Referring now to the drawings:

Figure l is a perspective view of a home mechanical refrigerator unit, having my ventilating i2 partially Visible at the top Figure 2 is a vertical sectional view of that box with the outside door shown as partially open. Figure 3 is an enlarged longitudinal sectional view my one-directional connecting means which connects my ventilating means to clear it and initiates the operation thereof upon opening of that door It.

Figure 4 is an enlarged partially cross-sectional view of my adjustable pneumatic door stop means.

Referring to Figure 2 of the drawings, at the objects and advantages of 2 top of the unit or box It, I provide an inner inverted conical-shaped false top I5. is built intothe box in that shape so as to deflect warm air rising upwardly in the box into the vent outlet or means l2, at the top of the unit, through openings 56 and permit departure of that air from the unit through holes 13' above the top of the unit proper. I mount a plate t completely across ventilator l2, so as to protect exit holes it by the plate protruding outwardly over and beyond them.

A trap door H, with lower protruding arm 26!, is provided to close the opening It, and operable to be opened, by being pivotally mounted at it, as illustrated, as a ventilating door. Spring i9 is so mounted, with one end fixed to the wall of the unit, and the other end to the trap door ii, that it normally acts to hold that trap door in pivctally closed position over opening It, as illustrated in dotted lines in Figure 2 after the main door I I has been closed for an interval, as will be later explained.

To the inside wall of the unit ill, at 9' I mount on a loose pivot, one end of a conventional pneumatic door stop 31, and pivotally fasten the plunger end of that stop to the lower end 32 of tray door arm 29. Free movement of the plunger end of that vacuum door stop is to the right, as illustrated, and the resisting force thereof is when that plunger is pushed to the left, as will be more. fully explained, and as is well known in the art. I use 3| as a retarding means to the closing of the trap door I! by the spring l9, after the main door H is closed, as will be explained. Referring to Figure 4, my pneumatic door stop 3! comprises a pump type tubular casing 25 open at one end, having an operable plunger 22 through that open end, and closed at the other end. Plunger 22 is suitable secured to arm 34 by any conventional means such as. illustrated, and has a supporting washer and a flexible leather, or other flexible compression washer 23, snugly held as illustrated and understood in the art. Washer 23 acts as a compression seal in one direction only between 22 and H. A lubricant is applied periodically to the inner walls of the casing. Compression of air in the casing occurs, since the other end, as" illustrated'i-s formed closed, as the plunger is operated toward that closed end. An air outlet port is provided at 25,. adjacent the closed end; and a plug 25 is suitably secured, as by welding, to the exterior of the casing in alignment with port 24. Plug 25 has a longitudinal opening corresponding in size to 24, and aligned with 2t throughout its length. Extending outwardly transversely of the plug from its central longitudinal opening are a plurality of outlet vents 26, through which vents 26 the compressed air, in compression chamber 28 end of the pneumatic stop, upon operation thereof, escapes. As elsewhere explained, arm 34 is actuated in compression direction by spring l9. Plug 25 is externally threaded to receive a threaded U-shaped seal cap 21 thereover. Cap 21 is operably adjusted on said threads to close the extended port 2 and also one or more or all of the vents 26, as will be understood; thereby, in direct proportion to that closing by 21, the interval of time required for the release of the compressed air in chamber 28 is controlled or adjusted. Obviously, an adjustment of cap 21 on its threads, to close or open one or more of vents 26 in plug 25, regulates the interval of time it takes the tension means 19 to close the trap or vent door after door I I has been closed, as will be more fully explained, by a confining or release, respectively, of compressed air in compression chamber 28 of the pneumatic stop member 3|, upon operation of the plunger 22 in casing 2|. Upon opening of the door II, the arm 34 and plunger 22 are withdrawn from the compression end of casing, and in that operation air enters the compression chamber 28 through vents 26 and port 24, as will be understood. Any number and size of vents 26 may be provided; and also a plurality of ports I 24 each with a plug 25, vents 26 and cap 21 may be provided, as desired or necessitated under varying conditions of use.

Also at the lower end 32, of trap door arm 20,

I pivotally mount to the right the one-directional 13 free plunger arm 34, which, with 33, comprises one-directional connection means between door H and arm 26, as will be explained. Arm 34 is the inner, free one-directional, loose fitting piston portion of the connecting means 33-34 between 32 and 31. Member 33 is a tubular member open at the left end where arm 34 enters it, and is closed at its right side Where it is pivotally connected to the outer door II, at 31. When door I is opened, and tubular sleeve 33 is pulled with it to the right, as illustrated, notch 35 of 33 engages against notch 36 of 34, and thus in that opening direction of door members 33 and 34 act as a solid connecting means pulling arm 26 so as to open trap door IT, on its pivot |8, with that openings of door II. From that construction, it will appear that when door H is closed sleeve 33 will slide over loose fitting arm 33 without exerting any force in that direction, or to the left as illustrated, on or through that arm 33. Thus arm 34 and tubular member 33 together comprise one-directional connecting means between arm 20 extension of the trap door portion I! and the door Thereby, when door II is opened trap door I1 is also opened; and when door II is closed nothing happens to trap door I! as a result of that closing; as arm 34 is shorter than openings 29 of tubular member 33 and thus does not force 34 to the left.

When door II is closed, trap door I! will remain open for a while, due to pneumatic door stop 3| exerting a pressure against arm 20, as arm 23 moves to the left as illustrated, under the pressure resulting from spring l9. In other words, spring I 9 causes trap door H to close slowly against the resistance of pneumatic stop 3|, after the main door I I has been closed. That length of time that it will take for spring l9 to close trap door across opening l6 can be regulated by the proportion of the tension or pull of 0 after door II is closed, or to cause a delayed close thereof.

It will thus be seen, that durin that interval of time, after main door II is closed, and while trap door H is closing slowly across opening I6,

5 as just explained, that a volume of air will be forced up and out the ventilating means l2 by the air forced into the box when door I is closed, since trap door I! is not yet closed. Also, during that interval after door H is closed and before 21) trap door I? is closed, the warmer air which entered before door H was closed will rise of its own force to the top of the box and will be defiected out through opening it upwardly and out holes [3. Of course, ventilation also occurs when =3; front door I! is held open, as during that time 0 the heaviest saturated air naturally falls downwardly out the door I of the unit as that door is held open.

A refrigerator unit with my invention will always be automatically ventilated and fresh, with the result that foods will be kept longer therein and without taking on foreign food odors.

In Figure 2, I diagrammatically illustrate the conventional cooling mechanism, connections and unit, as 38, 39 and 46. When the small home box of the size illustrated is in use it is generally about jammed with foods, bottles and containers, and

the air therein seldom properly circulates because it becomes saturated, and yet the proper functioning of that small mechanical unit depends upon -15 circulation. In a unit having my ventilator improvement, the efficiency of such a box through better circulation obviously results.

While I have illustrated and described one embodiment of my invention, it is obvious to those skilled in the art that there are other embodimerits, modifications, uses and advantages, within the spirit and scope of my invention; for instance, my ventilating means l2, trap door ll, spring I9, stop 3| and my one-directional con- 50 necting means 3334, could be rearranged, re-

designed, substituted for and eliminated in part. without changing the spirit or scope of my invention, or deviating therefrom. There might be times, for instance, when it would be desirable to iii) eliminate the spring I9 and stop 3|, and, instead of the one-directional only connecting means 33-34 herein described and illustrated, to have a solid connection between 32 and 31, so that the trap door I! would open and close simultaneously with and upon the operation of the front door I I therefore wish to be limited only by the spirit and scope of the appended claims.

What I claim as my invention is:

1. In a refrigerating unit, a cooling compartment having an outside main door, a vent opening in a wall of said unit, a trap door pivotally mounted across said vent opening, spring means for normally holding said trap door in closed position across said vent opening, one-direction 5 connecting means between said outside main door and said trap door operable for opening said trap door when the main door is opened against the tension of said spring means, and pneumatic door stop means 50 attached to said trap door as to prevent its being closed by said spring means until the lapse of an interval after the main door is closed.

2. A refrigerator unit as claimed in claim 1, characterized by the provision of the pneumatic door stop means being adjustable for regulation of the interval between the closing of the main door and the trap door.

3. The combination, in a refrigerator unit having a main door, an operable vent door normally held closed by a tension means and adapted to be opened by and when the main door is opened, and telescoping members comprising connecting means between the two doors for opening of the vent door upon the opening of the main door, of tension means associated with the connecting means for normally holding the vent door closed and for closing the vent door after the main door has been opened and after the main door has been closed and having pneumatic door stop retarding means in association therewith for retarding the closing of the vent door once the vent door has been opened.

4. In a refrigerator unit, a cooling compartment having an outside main door, a vent openin in a wall of said unit, vent door means operably mounted across said vent, tension means for normally holding said vent door means in closed position with relation to the vent, one-directional connecting means between the outside door and the vent door means operable for opening the vent door means when the main door is opened against the tension of the tension means and further operable for permitting closing of the main door without causing a closing of the vent door, and retarding means operably connected with said vent door means for causing the vent door means to be closed slowly by the tension means after the vent door means has been opened and after the main door has been closed.

5. A refrigerator unit as claimed in claim 4,

mally held closed, and connecting means comprising rod means mounted in a sleeve provided with a notched means for moving the rod in one direction, said connecting means being positioned between the two doors for opening operation of the vent door by the opening of the entrance door and for operational closing of the vent door an interval of time after the entrance door has been closed, and said connecting means having tension means associated therewith for normally holding the vent door closed and for closing the vent door after it has been opened and also having retarding means associated therewith for resisting the closing of the vent door.

7. A ventilating system for a storage unit of the class described, having a main door and a vent opening therein, comprising a vent door operably mounted across said vent and normally adapted to be held closed with relation thereto, tension means for normally holding the vent door closed, and one-directional mechanical connecting means comprising telescoping members between the two doors for opening of the vent door by and upon the opening of the main door and for permitting the vent door to remain open for a period of time after the main door has been closed.

LEWIS M. MITCHELL.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 501,253 Netzer July 11, 1893 830,861 Spadavecchia Sept. 11, .1906 897,227 Schrader Aug. 25, 1908 1,438,450 Maki Dec. 12, 1922 1,488,162 Miller Mar. 25, 1924 1,607,541 Labanauskas Nov. 16, 1926 1,644,920 Heinle, Jr. Oct. 11, ,1927 1,830,323 Judelson et al Nov. 3, 1931 1,907,727 Breidert May 9, 1933 1,917,340 Sutcliife July 11, 1933 1,931,156 Persons Oct. ,17, 1933 2,053,453 Wendler Sept. 8, 1986 2,204,164 Steuber June 11, 1940 2,216,873 Browne Oct. 8, 1940 2,224,494 White Dec. 10, 1940 2,332,091 Kuhn Oct. 19, 1943 

